[My views are my own]
“If you want to make enemies, try to change something. You know why it is. To do things today exactly the way you did them yesterday saves thinking. It does not cost you anything. You have acquired the habit; you know the routine; you do not have to plan anything, and it frightens you with a hint of exertion to learn that you will have to do it a different way tomorrow.”
Woodrow Wilson
My mother, Betty Jean (aka BJ), is from Iowa. In the 1960s, she came to New York as a flight attendant, fell in love with my father, and never went back.
She tried her best to become a real New Yorker, but she hasn’t been able to shake her easygoing Midwestern Southern Baptist temperament.
Like most New Yorkers, she learned to be an aggressive driver. Even at the age of 79, she still flies down the highway in the left lane doing 80 in a 55.
But, unlike most New Yorkers, when she gets cut-off, rather than rolling down the window and giving the finger, she puts a huge smile on her face and waves like she’d just sold her first-prize pig at the Iowa State Fair.
The powerful lesson is that my mother almost never has to pick up the hammer to achieve her objectives.
Mostly, she just smiles and waves — and keeps on driving.
In corporate transformation, there are a hundred opportunities a day for misunderstanding, hurt feelings and conflict.
What I’ve learned from my mother’s approach is to have empathy, and to give people the benefit of the doubt.
Every time I’ve reacted in anger, it’s been destructive, and I’ve regretted it.
If you are interested in engaging further in this conversation, I’d love to go on the journey with you. Please subscribe to my FREE newsletter/blog. The link is at the top of the page on a desktop browser and at the bottom of the page on a mobile browser. Also, please follow me on Twitter, connect with me on LinkedIn, and post a comment below. I’d love to know what you think.